Sugar
by subduedfangirl
Summary: There was sugar stuck to the roof of his mouth. He was never eating cotton candy again. [Written for Levihan Week 2015. Prompt - Stars]


**(A/N: Happy day two of Levihan Week everybody! Remember that time in Spoof on Titan when Levi mentioned that Hanji had dragged him to the circus? I do!)**

* * *

Levi turned around to ask Hanji when they were leaving, but when he saw the stars in her eyes he already knew the answer.

"I haven't been to a circus in years!" Hanji exclaimed. Her tone of voice was the same as when she talked about her Titan experiments. She clasped her hands together as she looked around at the stalls leading up to the entrance, a blush forming on her cheeks. Levi mentally added three hours to the estimated time that this would take.

Hanji grabbed Levi's arm and shook it. "Look! Cotton candy!" Before Levi could ask what she was talking about, Hanji ran off towards a stall that looked like it was selling small pink clouds. Levi followed, putting his hands in his pockets. For the third time since they arrived, he wondered why everyone was so excited about a large tent.

The traveling circus troupe from the Hermiha district had put up posters announcing their arrival about a month ago, but Levi hadn't paid much attention to it. There was nothing about the circus that interested him, and he'd been fine with ignoring it until it left. At least, that was until Hanji had almost kicked down his door two hours ago. She'd bounced on the balls of her feet in his doorway, babbling about hard-to-get tickets and insisting that Levi go with her. And now he was here, waiting in a crowd of screaming children and over-excited adults for Hanji to come back. Levi wondered what he'd gotten himself into.

Hanji left the stall with a pink cloud in each hand. She held one out to Levi. "This stuff is incredible! You have to try it!" she said.

Levi took it from her, staring at it with a frown. "What is it made out of?" he asked.

He looked up to see that Hanji's pink cloud had a giant bite mark in it. "Soogah!" she exclaimed, her mouth full.

"Sugar?" Levi repeated. Hanji nodded, her ponytail bobbing with the movement. "You don't need any more energy, shitty glasses," he added.

Hanji swallowed the cotton candy in one big gulp. "Just trying to make the most of our vacation day," she said, and took another huge bite.

"Don't remind me that I'm wasting the day here," Levi said. He turned the cotton candy to the side, wondering how something so flimsy held its shape.

Hanji paused before her next bite. "Aw, it can't be that much of a waste," she said.

Levi looked at her without turning his head. "We don't get that many days off, four eyes."

"Exactly! So we need to have fun when we can!" There was a ring of pink fluff around Hanji's mouth. She licked part of it off before continuing. "I mean, you were probably just gonna do something boring."

"I was going to clean the mess hall floor."

"Right, boring!" Hanji said with a grin, smacking Levi right between the shoulder blades. "C'mon, we're gonna miss our chance to get good seats." Hanji took off running towards the crowd that was funneling its way into the large tent. Levi followed, his skin stinging where Hanji's hand had made contact on his back.

* * *

The show wasn't as much of a hassle as Levi had been expecting. He still didn't understand the general excitement, but the acrobats were interesting enough. Levi wondered how Erwin would react if he added balancing on a giant ball to the recruits' training.

As the crowd oohed and ahhed, he took an experimental bite of cotton candy. The texture made him want to spit it back out.

Hanji nudged his shoulder. "What do you think, Levi?"

"I think that you're full of shit about cotton candy. It tastes like I'm eating my dust mop," he said.

"Not that! Look!"

Levi glanced up to see Hanji pointing not at the show floor but above it. He followed her finger up until he saw two acrobats on swings far above them. They jumped and flipped, each taking turns catching the other in midair. It looked like some of the movements the Scouts used out in the field.

Hanji elbowed him again. "They're copying us," she said. He could hear the smile in her voice.

Levi watched one of the performers somersault in midair. "Not bad," he admitted. He turned his head to ask Hanji if she wanted the rest of his cotton candy, but the words never left his mouth.

Maybe the aftertaste of the weird circus treat was causing Levi to see things, but the stars in Hanji's eyes seemed bigger and brighter than they had outside the tent. She was watching the acrobats with perfect attention, mouth open a sliver and turned up into a smile. Levi realized he'd been wrong about his earlier comparison. This wasn't the same look of joy Hanji had about her experiments. It was similar, but there were small differences about it. In that same moment, he realized that he wanted her to look that happy always.

Levi turned away. There was sugar stuck to the roof of his mouth.

He was never eating cotton candy again.

* * *

"Did you have fun?" Hanji asked as they passed through Headquarters' main doorway. She'd spent the walk back recounting her favorite acts from the show—all of them—without any input from Levi, so it took him a moment to respond.

"It wasn't terrible," he said. Levi turned the corner that led to the barrack's stairway.

"But did you have fun?" Hanji repeated.

Levi looked over his shoulder at her. Hanji's cheeks were flushed and she was smiling like a kid with their favorite toy. If he was honest, Levi could take or leave the circus. Yet, getting to see Hanji excited over something that wasn't an experiment was worth the trip.

"I wasn't bored at least," he said, taking the first few steps up the stairs.

"They should put that on their posters!" Hanji said behind him. "'Come see the Hermiha Troupe's Traveling Circus! Humanity's strongest soldier says it's not boring!'"

Levi opened his mouth to reply when he heard the stamping of Hanji's boots coming up the stairs after him. Before he could say anything, something light and soft pressed against his cheek. It was gone as soon as he registered it.

"Thanks for coming with me," Hanji said, and passed him on the stairs. Levi stayed where he was, seeing stars of his own.

Did Hanji just kiss him?

"Maybe we should make this a tradition!" Hanji announced from the top of the stairs.

"No," Levi said out of reflex. "Once is more than enough."

He started walking up the stairs again, following the sound of Hanji's laugh. It had to be the sugar.


End file.
